Fall in amount of rubbish left on region’s beaches

The findings of the Marine Conservation Society’s annual Beachwatch survey, which saw 170 volunteers turn out on beaches on Yorkshire’s East Coast, showed overall litter dropped 11 per cent between 2010 and 2011.

But there is still an average of 1,741 items of litter strewn over each kilometre of beach in the UK – 700 up on when the charity first started doing the surveys in 1994.

And a new threat to public health is emerging in the form of dog waste in plastic bags which have been left on the beach and not binned.

The charity is also flagging up an eight per cent increase in the number of balloons found on beaches ahead of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and Olympics celebrations in the hope that people will understand “why letting go is a bad idea.”